C.R.E.W

Chapter 6 ~ Cold Reunions

I slept for a little bit throughout the day, but I wasn't as comfortable as I normally am when falling asleep. For starters, when I do decide to fall asleep, I'm usually in my bed, or somewhere in my house. When I fall asleep, my shoulders are usually in one piece and perfectly normal. Then again, I'm also not traditionally in a hospital bed.

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When I woke up from a short nap, it was the same as every other time I had woken up in the morning: I rub my eyes and lay back just to stare at the ceiling. Multiple thoughts happen to run through my brain, most of them not having answers. I tend to stare at the ceiling for a while, even when I'm progressively becoming hungry.

Yet, this time, a voice broke the void. Someone was loudly running through the halls yelling, "Where's room 203?!"

I heard them stop a few times and ask wandering people, most likely nurses, the same question they have been screaming through the halls. They had a loud, booming voice, one very recognizable to me. They pushed open the door and we locked eyes, a wide grin spread across his face. He ran towards me, throwing his case onto the floor. The man gripped me tight, completely forgetting the reason I'm in a hospital bed.

"Ah, Dad! Shoulders!" I was trying to hold in my pain while he squeezed me hard.

"Oh, yes." He nervously laughed, "Sorry."

I smiled with a slight laugh.

"Are you okay?" He gently grabbed my lower arms.

"Yes, I'm feeling better now. I'm surprised you came all this way to see me. I mean, you were on a trip across the country," I laughed, "please, tell me you didn't cancel your entire trip just to be by my side." I realized I made it sound kind of rude towards the end.

"Let's just say I put it on hold." He smiled.

I looked down with a pressed smile on my face, "okay."

He smiled, "So, what happened?" He grasped my arms again.

"George!" My mom shouted, "she's injured!"

"Sorry," he backed away with his hands up in innocence, "I'll keep my distance," he slid his foot back and nodded his head.

"No, no, no, you're fine. Just, loosen up on the grip," Once I said it, he looked at me like he forgot who I was.

I could tell this was the moment when he truly realized, 'wow, my daughter is in a hospital bed. No one knows what happened to her, but we're glad she's here now. Instead of visiting her in the hospital right now, I could have been planning her funeral...'

Maybe that was a little excessive, but it truly was the thought that kept me from a restless sleep. Plus, with all the similarities the two of us share, he likely thought the same thing.

My mom and I stared at him, both with different looks on our faces. Me, with a soft reassuring smile. My mother, with a sad expression holding back tears, realizing the same thing as my father.

Soon enough, a nurse came in and broke the silence. She was carrying a tray with soup and some crackers.

"I brought your breakfast." She clicked the tray into place and it sat right in front of me, floating above my lap.

"Thank you." My mom uttered, stopping herself from zoning out.

"You're very welcome. Is there anything else I can do for you?" She smiled.

"No, uh, this is all. We'll be good, thank you." My dad responded, almost breaking out at the end. He kept his stance and fiddled with his fingers, only turning his head to look at the nurse.

She nodded, "alright, well, let me know if you need anything. The button is right next your bed." She crossed her arms in front of her and left the room.

My dad spoke up, "So, this is it."

"Dad, don't say it like that." I shot back.

"Well, how am I supposed to see it? My daughter is in a hospital bed with shoulder casts on her and you barely just woke up from what could have been a coma! Do you know what this means to us?" The last question caught me off-guard, kind of. I just wasn't expecting to hear it from my dad as much as I would expect it from my mom. To her, I almost died, she almost lost her daughter. Similarly to my mother, my dad is happy I'm safe, but he's very worried about me.

"It's really not that big of a deal..." I muttered.

"Not that big of a deal?!" My dad shouted, shocked.

"Honey, they don't know what happened to you." My mom officially reentered the conversation.

"You were found unconscious!" My dad was growing angrier by the second.

"In the girls' bathroom!" My mom added.

"What if I just hit my head? Huh? What if...What if I was bullied and punched to the ground? What if I just passed out because of my ADHD?" My parents went silent. None of those reasons I suggested were true, but I just needed them to grasp onto something. I know they won't believe the truth, so might as well create some fantasy lie that they can imagine and hopefully believe.

"Are any of those the real reason?" My mother asked.

"What makes you think they aren't?"

My mom looked at my dad, who still hasn't moved from his current position, then back at me.

"For one, a faint caused by your ADHD wouldn't last that long, and if it was because of your ADHD, it might not be a bad idea to talk to Dr. Sherner again." She took turns looking down and looking back up at me.

"What? No!" I shouted.

"I know you hate it and I don't want to send you there either, but you have to tell us the truth and if it is really ADHD." I could see the pain in her eyes as she spoke every single word.

My dad, who has been standing ever since he entered the room, finally took a seat next to my mom. Based off of past experiences, it's usually to give me the impression that they are ready to listen and understand rather than to talk and deny.

"If I told you the truth you wouldn't believe me." I said wearily.

"Honey, we are by you every step of the way," she walked over and caressed my cheek, "if it's wait and listen you want, then it's wait and listen you'll get. I want to know the truth about what happened to you, everyone does. It might sound bizarre but we're here for you, no matter the reason." She put on a smile with her lips pressed together.

"You wouldn't believe me, I don't even know if I believe it. " I started tearing up.

I wiped a tear from my face, "can we just forget about this, the reason?" I looked over at my soup that was starting to get cold, "I want to...I want to eat my soup."

They looked at each other, "of course, honey. Just...know we're here for you." She patted the bed and walked back to her seat.

I shifted my gaze towards the soup that was no longer radiating steam. I picked up the spoon and slowly dipped it in the soup. I blew on the minimal amount that was on the kitchen utensil and slowly shifted it into my mouth. I gulped it down and began shaking while also starting to breath heavy. I wasn't sure why I started shaking, or why I started breathing the way I did, but I tried to cover it up with clearing my throat.

"Is the soup, okay?" My mom asked.

"Yeah, just fine." I said before I gulped down another spoonful of cold soup.